An anti-war drawing has serious consequences for single father Alexei Moskalyov (54) and his daughter Maria (12) in Russia. He is in custody, she has been placed in a children’s home. What happened?
Last April, a teacher in the town of Yefremov, in Russia’s Tula region, asked her students to draw pictures showing their support for the Russian army in Ukraine. Maria, on the other hand, painted an anti-war image. The drawing shows two flags, one Russian and one Ukrainian, with the inscriptions “No to war” and “Glory to Ukraine”. Between the flags, missiles flew from the Russian side towards a woman and a child on the Ukrainian side.
The teacher reported everything to the principal. He immediately called the police, and moments later Russia’s domestic secret service FSB became involved, the independent Russian newspaper “Spektr” reported on Wednesday, citing a person close to the family.
Maria got scared and ran home. Still out of breath, she explained to her surprised father what had happened. “Dad, the police almost caught me – I drew a picture.”
Officials seize thousands of rubles
The girl has since been taken to the local police station several times and the house where she lived with her father has been searched several times.
According to Moskalyov, the agents knocked over items from the shelves and furniture. The entire savings, 123,000 rubles (about 1,500 francs) and 3,150 dollars, then disappeared. A computer and mobile phones were also seized.
On one occasion, FSB officials spoke with the father for three and a half hours. “They said they would take them from me and put me in jail,” he says. On another occasion, officers “banged his head against the wall and on the floor” and locked him in an interrogation room for two and a half hours while the Russian national anthem played at full blast.
Three years in prison for “discrediting” the military
The father and his daughter specially moved from Yefremov to the neighboring city of Uslovaya. It was no use. The police arrested him on his way to work.
He is accused of “discrediting” the military on the Internet. A criminal case was opened against him for comments on social networks. Now he faces a prison sentence of up to three years.
Meanwhile, Maria was sent to a children’s home in Yefremov, human rights organization OVD Info said on Telegram. Reportedly, she will stay there until a decision is made on the father or her mother.
The mother left Maria and her father when the child was three years old. She now lives in another city. According to Alexei Moskalyov, she will not take the sixth grader. A lawyer from OVD Info will defend the man in court.
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
